


Bring Me Down

by Daiya_Darko



Category: Star Trek (2009), Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Racism, Sexism, Sexual Harassment, Stalking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-14
Updated: 2012-12-14
Packaged: 2017-11-21 03:26:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/592909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daiya_Darko/pseuds/Daiya_Darko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As a black woman, she's honestly kind of used to this, but not the white guys who are making a fuss when she just wants to move past this all and get back to work.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bring Me Down

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This is being written by a black woman, so please spare me if you were going to try and tell me it isn’t my place to write about this. Title comes from a Kanye West song, no less. I took inspiration for her character by mixing nu!Uhura's attitude with TOS!Uhura, the latter’s inspiration coming from S1E04 (The Naked Time):  
> Sulu: I’ll rescue you, fair maiden!  
> Uhura: Sorry, neither.
> 
> and also how she handled Sulu's womanizing Mirrorverse counterpart.

The words are low, barely above a whispered mumble, but Uhura hears them and she immediately fills with a forgotten rage.

_When she was a child, her mother took her to Belgium to visit a family friend. Everything was wonderful, the food and sights new and amazing to the young girl. Europe was much different from Africa, especially in the way that certain people looked at Uhura and her mother as they walked the streets to the nearest shuttle bus._

_Playing with Evilien, their friend’s daughter, was how Nyota first learned that she was different._

_They played on the sidewalk, jumping rope and playing old hand games Nyota’s mother taught them, when a friend of Evilien’s, Luke, ran up, wanting to join them._

_The boy had barely sat down to practice the hand claps Nyota was teaching them when a shrill woman’s voice called out, “Luke! Get away from that filthy dirt skin!”_

_The young boy looked apologetic as he stood. “Sorry, Evy. I can’t play with you because she’s dirty.” He pointed to Nyota and quickly ran down and across the street._

_Nyota was hurt by their words, even though she didn’t fully understand them. Afraid, she and Evilien ran inside the house, rushing to the bathroom. Nyota cried as the scalding water burned her hands and arms, scrubbing vigorously at the imaginary dirt. Their mothers rushed in when Evilien asked for the bleach because, “It makes everything clean.”_

That was the day Uhura learned about how she was different.

Now, she is being reminded of that long-forgotten pain, being forced to recall the talk her mother had with her about how she wasn’t dirty and no one should have the right to make her feel that way.

Swallowing down the bitterness that teases at the back of her throat, Uhura turns and confronts the young ensign who called her a slur.

“I’m sorry, did you say something?” she asks calmly.

“Yeah, I said that you’re a stuck up monkey-faced cunt,” he spits out, words dripping with vitriol. “All I asked for was one date, but you had to blow me off like you’re somehow better than me.” He backs her against the wall, continuing, “I don’t know what it is with you Starfleet women thinking you’re so much better than the rest of us. You should be thankful a man’s even noticing you!”

Uhura swallows and looks past him for a chance to make an exit. This is getting far too out of hand. If she fights him, she proves the age-old stereotype that all black women are aggressive, especially those from Africa. If she allows him to break her down into tears, he wins this power contest.

Just as she’s about to pull him into a chokehold, a heavily accented man’s voice comes from the end of the hallway. “Oy, just what do ya think you’re doin, Rogers?” Scotty quickly strides down the hall, and the ensign backs up, straightening with a salute.

“Chief Engineer Scott! I was just – ”

“Save it, lad,” Scotty cuts off with a sharp glare. “You abandoned your post in the transporter room twenty minutes ago and I find you here, harassing my lady.”

The ensign flushes red and lowers his gaze. “I’m sorry, sir. She asked me to come with her here and I didn’t know what – ”

“You’re a filthy liar!” Uhura snaps, reaching out and punching the ensign in the face. “You followed me here even when I made it clear I wanted to be left alone!”

The ensign retaliates, lunging for her, forgetting whose presence he’s in. Before Scotty can step in, Uhura has the ensign flipped over, arm held up behind his back, boot on his neck.

“You can take it up with the captain, Rogers,” Uhura sneers. “I’ve had it with your shit today and for the rest of my career here at Starfleet.”

“Nyota,” Scotty says quietly, gently tugging at her elbow. “Let me handle him.”

Reluctantly, Uhura lets the young man up, and Scotty marches him toward the engine room, no doubt to have a conversation in Scotty’s way. She smiles, glad Ensign Rogers got what was coming to him. She heard he had stalked other women desperately in similar ways, getting physical with some. Uhura decided before it even started that she was not going to be the one with whom he could get away with that.

As she takes the lift back to the bridge, Uhura tries to center herself. She doesn’t normally let herself explode like that, but she couldn’t take it anymore. She was cornered and offended; how else was she supposed to act? She tried to adopt the calm collectedness of Spock, but her emotions always won out, which led to the inevitable end of their relationship.

She didn’t mourn it; they were happy together, but sometimes things just didn’t translate well across cultures.  It was no one’s fault in particular, and a friendly mutual agreement that they were better as friends.

Scotty was an accident, a wonderful accident full of life and charisma. He joined her on an away mission and ultimately depended on her to save them from hostile inhabitants. The foreign beings didn’t speak a known language, but it was similar enough to a rare dialect of Klingon that Uhura happened to know. She was able to talk their way out of danger, and once they returned to the ship, Scotty said, “There is one of whom we took no note, but on a certain occasion it appears that she has a secret virtue never suspected.”

Everyone looked at him in confusion, except Uhura, who finished quietly, “-that she can paint what has occurred and what must occur, with such clearness to a company, as if they saw it done before their eyes. Ralph Waldo Emerson.”

Scotty smiled, impressed, and offered her a discussion on ancient literature over a hot toddy. Uhura accepted, and things took off from there.

At the bridge, Uhura tries to maintain her calm demeanor, focusing on keeping her heart rate down and head clear, but Spock approaches her, easily able to detect  an emotional disturbance.

“Are you well, Nyota? You appear to be distressed, although you’re hiding it nicely.”

Uhura shrugs and smiles. “Some things can’t be changed, so you just have to adjust yourself.”

Before Spock can question her meaning, Scotty bursts in, demanding Kirk’s attention.

“Captain, I know you’re a man of relatively good moral code. I say relatively because I’ve had a few drinks with you and alcohol shows you the heart of a man through amber colored glasses, but you need to address some of the men on your crew!”

Kirk swivels around, curious as to what could have angered his best engineer so. “Do you want to tell me what happened?”

“I’m demanding we suspend Ensign Steve Rogers at once for sexual and verbal harassment of a Starfleet lieutenant!”

Everyone on the bridge stops what they’re doing to look at Scotty, except Uhura, who focuses her attention on the screen in front of her.

“Who is the victim?” Kirk asks.

“Sir, it’s not my place to tell you her name out in the open. I’ve sent you the report already.”

“First of all,” Uhura finally speaks up, turning to face them. “I’m not a victim.”

She avoids the looks of everyone in the room, and when Spock moves to touch her shoulder, she steps away.

“I don’t need comfort, I don’t need saving. I’m not a victim here. Thank you, Scotty, for filing that report without my permission.”

Exasperatedly, he blurts out, “But what he was doin – “

“Yes, I know, but I could have handled it on my own. You just assumed I needed to be rescued.” Uhura folds her arms, challenging him to argue with her any further, but he tosses up his hands in defeat.

“Alright, captain, you heard the lady. Disregard that report. She _did_ handle him herself, I will admit.” He looks back to her, face softening.

“Uhura,” Kirk begins. “Do you mind telling me what happened? I won’t read the report, since you didn’t file it. Tell me in your own words.”

Talking about it, having to think about it again and bring up those emotions she had just buried is not what Uhura wants to do right now, and especially not when there are others watching intently.

“I’d prefer not to discuss my business on the bridge, captain,” she says calmly, even as her pulse begins to pick up when Kirk motions for her to follow to the lift.

“Mr. Spock,” Kirk nods to the chair, and Spock dutifully takes a seat as Uhura, Kirk, and Scotty enter the lift.

The silence is tense, but Uhura holds her head up high. She’s not going to be made a show or an example, just another statistic for the books. _I’ve got everything under control,_ she tells herself. _I set the pace, I make the rules, and no one is going to tell me otherwise._

Inside of the privacy of the staff meeting room, Kirk drops the professional façade. “Christ, Uhura, are you okay? I saw the way you flinched when Spock tried to comfort you.”

Uhura wraps her arms around herself protectively and nods. “I’m fine, just a little averse to touch right now.”

She catches the hurt look in Scotty’s eye. _Great; now he’ll think he was too late or something happened before._

This is all tiring, and Uhura wishes she could just get back to work and put all of this behind her, but it’s clear her friends won’t let her.

“Ensign Steve Rogers tried to flirt with me, and I blew him off. He followed me, wouldn’t leave me alone when I said stop, and then he cornered me and began using racial slurs.”

“Shit,” Kirk hisses, balling his fist. “I personally got that kid on the Enterprise myself. I thought he was a good guy.” He looks up apologetically, and Uhura could swear it’s the first time she’s ever seen him show remorse. “I’m really sorry you had to go through that. I didn’t think anyone in Starfleet would exhibit such behavior. I’m having his ass kicked off the ship ASAP, okay?”

“Kirk, you don’t have to do that,” Uhura argues. “I’d rather just forget about the whole thing. Besides, I punched him.”

“And you threw him on the ground and stepped on his neck,” Scotty adds, and Kirk raises his eyebrows.

“I guess Scotty wasn’t lying about you handling things.” He offers a smile, which Uhura can’t help but return. “But what I don’t understand is why you’re so insistent on letting this whole thing go.”

Here’s the conversation she was hoping to avoid. Trying to explain to men why women do the things they do is always frustrating, but maybe it’ll be different this time.

“Well, when you get used to getting shit, you stop reacting to it. It’s exhausting; if I responded negatively to every sexist thing said against me, I’d probably have an aneurysm. With race, it’s like, there are so few racists nowadays that people won’t believe me if I say I was attacked based on race. Starting up drama and bringing attention to myself…I don’t want people to look at me and feel pity because they hear what I have to go through. I just want understanding.”

“Don’t want to cause a scene, gotcha,” Kirk nods. “Well technically, he did violate Starfleet rules, so I’m going to have to send him in for a hearing. If you want, I’ll keep your name out of it, Jane Doe.” He winks, and slowly reaches out to squeeze her shoulder affectionately.

She lets him. “Thanks, Kirk.”

Kirk nods. “I’m going back to the bridge if you need me further. Lieutenant Uhura, you’re free to have the rest of the day off if you want. I personally think you’d be fine either way, but it’s up to you. Plus,” he looks at Scotty and pats him on the shoulder. “I think you two might have some things to discuss.”

“Aye,” Scotty says solemnly, eyes fixed on Uhura. They wait until Kirk leaves, and then Scotty almost seems to fall apart at the seams. “I’m sorry, Nyota. I got angry and reacted without thinking.”

Uhura shrugs and gives him a soft smile. “This kind of thing won’t be the last time I have to deal with it, and I won’t always have someone step in on my behalf.”

“I was just so worried and I wanted to kick his maggoty little arse.”

“I know, Scotty, I know. You’re protective of those you care about.” She steps forward and runs a smooth hand down the side of his face. “I don’t blame you, but you’ve got to know I can take care of myself, even when it looks like I can’t.”

He grabs her hand and presses a gentle kiss to her knuckles. “I know. You’re the strongest woman I know besides my mum.”

Uhura laughs and leans against his chest, allowing him to hold her. She doesn’t need the physical affection, but she knows he thrives on it, feels lost and despairing without it.

This won’t be easy on either of them, but Uhura feels comforted knowing she still has some grasp of control over her situation. And in the grasp of Scotty’s arms, she knows there’s someone willing to take control when she no longer can.


End file.
